■   The trip I took with Rapid-T was part of the research I did for an article looking at modern American hobos, a subculture I was examining for an article I wrote while at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. If you’d like to read the full article, please contact me.

If you’d like more information on hobos, including a great collection of riding stories, check out North Bank Fred’s site.

If you’d like to meet some hobos, check out the National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa.

Finally, although this should probably go without saying, hopping freight trains is insanely dangerous, hideously illegal and the sort of thing that no one, anywhere, should ever do.